Queen Paola : seems not in a good day..
Queen Fabiola : Her lady in waiting should have advised her to close her fur coat but beautiful hairdo.
Princess Mathilde seems to wear the same Nathan coat as Princess Maxima but again to short
Princess Astrid : 3 different colors CHANEL is not for her
Princess Claire : a red Hat dor a Dead Commemoration!
Princess Lea : perfect to go to a cocktail party or a wedding.
Princess Anna Laura : the best Royal and the most beautiful European Princess. She is HRH Princess of Belgium and HI and RH Archduchess of Habsbourg-Este
Prince Philippe : looking in the sixties
Prince Laurent : catastrophe he seems being in a very bad mood

But last and not least HM King Albert II , Perfect and so helpful for his Sister in Law.
During King Albert Ii I am happy to see Queen Astrid’s descendants AND Princess Lilian descendants together for this Celebration

A terrible incident took place in front of Laken castle this morning. A car driver who intended to attempt suicide drove into a group of police motorcycles. The policemen were waiting in front of the castle fence to escort the ambassadors back home who were presenting their credentials to King Albert. 8 policemen were injured, 5 of them were seriously hurt, but their lives are not in danger.

Terrible incident but I'm glad the lives of the police officers are not in danger.
If you want to take your own life, it's a terrible thing on its own, but to deliberately attempt murdering innocent people as well? That' just wrong on so many levels.

What will involve the Royal Family at some point to comfort is the gruelling accident that took place last night in Switserland as a schoolbus crashed with Belgian children aged around 12 in a tunnel and had more the 28 people killed,including 22 children from Lommel and Heverlee while 24 are wounded.Immensely sad.

HM Queen Beatrix has send a telegramme of condolences to TM King Albert and Queen Paola.

AS the village of Lommel is close to the Dutch border,many Dutch children attend school in Lommel.Seven of them were killed in the accident.But regardless where the children were from,their death is just as devastating a blow to their loved ones,and the community of Lommel and the country.

What will involve the Royal Family at some point to comfort is the gruelling accident that took place last night in Switserland as a schoolbus crashed with Belgian children aged around 12 in a tunnel and had more the 28 people killed,including 22 children from Lommel and Heverlee while 24 are wounded.Immensely sad.

Just heard these terrible news. Such an incredible tragedy with so many children killed.

__________________Some people say that cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel. True, and they have many other fine qualities as well.

The Belgian PM has called a day of National Mourning after it became clear that due to a bus accident in Switserland 28 people died,22 of them children and 6 adults that accompanied them while 24 are wounded ranging from shock to coma.This tragedy does have an enormous impact on Belgium and it is therefore I start this thread here instead of "In the News" where it would sit rather uncomfortebly between the likes of Carla Sarkozy and Madame Assad.....It doesn't belong there.I do hope the Mods will bare with me in this exceptional case.

The victims and the bereaved deserve space of their own with those that will do whatever they can to comfort all.The Royal Family.

Most of the children that have died were from the Belgian Dutch border town of Lommel as they were all in front of the bus apparently.From the 22 children that passed away 7 were Dutch.Many parents in border towns prefer Belgian schools for their children over Dutch.Besides that the town of Lommel is a sort of Dutch enclave as halve the population is Dutch.Just to clarify what Dutch children were doing in the bus.Most of the wounded children are from the town of Heverlee near Leuven/Louvain.

This morning TM cut short a visit to a secundary school in Aalst where they also observed a moment of silence in honour of the victims.They immediatly went to the Air Forcebase Melsbroek,the military section of Brussels International airport Zaventem,and met with all the parents.

No one knew anything at that time in regard to in what state their children were,what agony that must have been.

Apparently there were three busses with schoolchildren and two had already passed the tunnel so the Swiss authorities wanted to be absolutely certain who was who and what happened to whom before they called for any parents at all,which is understandeble I think.

PM Elio di Rupo is in Switserland now to talk with authorities and meet with the wounded,their families and ofcourse the parents of the victims.He also was at Melsbroek as the parents arrived and he had a briefing on matters and received TM and informed them.

This is of such significant impact to the country that I thought it best to put all concerning this tragedy here,the more so as all members of the Belgian Royal Family will be involved in comforting and visiting the wounded as well as the berieved as well as attending ceremonies of Remembrance.

HM Queen Beatrix has send a telegramme of condolences to TM King Albert and Queen Paola and the bereaved and loved ones of the victims.If anyone then she who knows best what all these poor poor people must go through right now.

All over Belgium there are Books of Condolences at Municipalities,schools and churches as well as prayer services.One was in Louvain/Leuven lead by Archbishop of Belgium Mgr.Leonard this evening.

A really terrible tragedy.
Our thoughts and prayers are with people of Belgium, and especially the families of the victims.

The King and Queen, as well as the crown princely couple, were quick to react and show support for the families.
King Albert and Queen Paola were briefed by the Prime Minister and talked to the families in the airport. They also observed minute of silence for the victims.

Prince Philipp and Princess Mathide, currently on economic mission in Vietnam stated that the where deeply shokked. 'As parents ourselfs we feel extra connected to the parents and relatives of the childern'

This is a terrible tragedy and has made all the news services here. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims. I don't believe anyone will have a problem recognising that this tragic event has anything to do with the royal family other than them sending their heartfelt sympathies.

The Royal Family, in its role as comforter, needs to be highlighted here. This is a national tragedy (and for Holland, too), so it is appropriate to note that the Royal Family is acting as it should in extending comfort. I am sure it will not end with today's condolences.

Thanks Lucien for starting this thread.
This tragedy has the frontpage of a lot of foreign newspaper. We are waiting the results of the bus «*tachographe*».
Is was a very heavy front accident , nothing remains of the front of the bus is which unfortunately the 6 adults died : the two bus drivers, the teacher of the class , 3 other adults and 22 children or more.
All the seats of the bus went to the front and the 22 or more children died immediately.
Others are fighting for their lifes other are deeply chocked but save.
4 Bodies were difficult to identify and a poor mother said his name was sewed on his jacked, but they had to destroy the clothes because it was difficult to take the poor bodies off. Terrible, terrible
The swiss securest said that they were absolutely chocked and never saw this.
And the press : the press is everywhere in the cities of the schools , in switzerland.
This day a Flemish newspaper published pictures of the children without asking the parents agreement.
You know Belgium is a little Country but when it is concerning innocent children they
remain great people (Marc Dutroux) and to-day there is no difference between Flemish and Walloons.
The most terrible thing is that the parents who flow yesterday to Switzerland did not know if her Child was killed or not ; they received the King’s support totally chocked and with little information they had did they realize it was the King ?

Very sad indeed. I am a schoolteacher and I would be devastated if anything of such a nature should ever happen to any of our schoolchildren. My thoughts are with the parents, family, friends, teachers and fellow students of the victims.